Food Box

Humble Pie at V-Lounge

Before moving home from Manhattan, we stuffed ourselves silly at our neighborhood brick-oven pizzeria in order to stave off cravings until we could get back to the Big Apple.

Were we nuts or what? How provincial we were proved by V-Lounge! Starving on a late Saturday night, we were surprised and delighted to find an open table for two and an attentive waitress who whisked over to take our order. We also found simplicity in the fresh and flavor-ripe ingredients. The Bianca Verde pie, which came out first, was covered with pitch-perfect Mao Farms organic arugula, crunchy and bittersweet, and the mozzarella di bufala, ricotta salata and parmigiano reggiano each looked and tasted distinctive.

Anchovies, those omega-3-rich swimmers at the bottom of the food chain recently rehabilitated as a pizza ingredient, glistened fat and silver on the Boquerones pizza, along with fresh thyme, onions, garlic, tomato sauce and chili pepper water. The crusts were crisp yet yeasty, opulent, like Naan.

V-Lounge retains its simple identity and rich quality despite the sharing of staff and resources with its new sister restaurant, Prima (see opposite page). Next time, may it be soon, I’ll order beer instead of white wine in small glasses to better savor this satisfying earthy fare.